Schenectady voters reject budget again

In the what we call the “stand-up” story I had written before the vote totals came in tonight, I had surmised that Schenectady’s $161.3 million revised plan would pass the second time around. After all, the second budget passed last year, and there didn’t seem to be much anger over the new budget the Board of Education had constructed for 2010-2011.

But there were voters voices rising again tonight, expressing their displeasure with the district by a vote of 954 to 858.

Perhaps it was the fact that Steven Raucci was sentenced last week. Maybe it’s that Superintendent Eric Ely is in the news every week because he’s a finalist candidate for another job. Or, did some voters get wind of a scandal last week concerning the approval of tenure of a list of administrators? And then again, was the public not impressed that board members didn’t cut that much to bring the tax levy increase down from 6 percent to 4 percent?

Board member Gary Farkas told me quickly on the phone tonight that voter confidence has to be won again in Schenectady. What it will take to accomplish that, who knows. What do you think it will take?

Lauren Stanforth

5 Responses

what a shame. you voted down the first budget and voted new people in and got rid of the ones you didnt… you made a statement and should move forward. and the new group worked on an alternative budget trimming some cost and reducing tax levy…

but you still voted it down again! and now you have to cut half a million more with pretty much the same tax levy?! for what?! to make a further statement of the past?!

all you did was hurt an already poor program in schenectady. the kids here already get a poor education and you did nothing to help. all you did was show how much you really thought about the kids here.

I think you touched on all of the reasons the budget was defeated. The tenure of administrators where some people wanted to vote on them seperately but many didn’t. I found it interesting that their was a snack budget? My employers don’t have a snack budget. Provide your own snacks, my tax dollars should not be doing that. The fact that Ely is still here. The board should release the suggestions that were put in with the first vote, I’m interested to see what the public thought should be done. They released the survey results but not the suggestions, why not. They should look at more administrative cuts. I know that everyone will say that the children are being punished but it will forec the board to think carefully before putting budgets out to vote make the right cuts and we will approve, the wrong cuts result in defeat. My cost of living raise is 2 to 2.5 percent not 4% and more be realistic with what you want to cut. Let’s see if the contigency budget is more than the proposed like ely threatened last year.

People voted against the budget because of the duplicity we hear over and over again. Sadly,the new members of the board will be saddled with this mess and will be the ones to deal with the impact of the vote and dealing with the cuts that will have to be decided. Ely and Farkas’s statements as reported in the Gazette and TU are the strongest reasons for the negative reaction of those who chose to vote.

Too many administrators plain and simple. Also, the sweetheart union contracts and tenure are a joke regarding some of these crackpots call ed “Schenectady Teachers”. Why should we be penalized with higher taxes?